Joel Rio is the humble research assistant of Dr. Robert Bly, or so he claims. When Shelby Bly shows up at the museum after her father’s abduction, Joel will offer to aid her while possibly revealing himself to be more than he first appeared to be. He previously aided Dr. Bly as the elder archaeologist attempted to come out of retirement and return to his adventuring ways. Now Joel will help Shelby in her quest to find the mysterious Vril so that they may use it to bargain for Dr. Bly’s safe return from GEEVA and Blair Nimway’s grasp.

The concept of Joel Rio has undergone many changes and has been renamed almost as many times. What you see here are the finalized concept renders of this character. That means what you see here is how Joel Rio will look like in the final graphic novel. If I can find the first/earliest concept renders of Joel (I seem to recall him starting out as a much dorkier looking character), I’ll add them here for comparison/reference. For now, I am working on his alternate outfits (gotta change clothes once in a while as the story progresses). Once those new outfit concepts are finalized (and they don’t include spoilers), I’ll add them here as well.

This is how Joel will first appear in the graphic novel in Chapter 1. We will find him at the museum where he is working at his job as Dr. Robert Bly’s research assistant.